The wild ancestor of Avena sativa and the closely-related minor crop, A. byzantina, is the hexaploid wild oat A. sterilis. Genetic evidence shows that the ancestral forms of A. sterilis grow in the Fertile Crescent of the Near East. Domesticated oats appear relatively late, and far from the Near East, in Bronze Age Europe. Oats, like rye, are usually considered a secondary crop, i.e. derived from a weed of the primary cereal domesticates wheat and barley. As these cereals spread westwards into cooler, wetter areas, this may have favoured the oat weed component, leading to its eventual domestication.

Method of producing Oat Extract from rolled oats and oat flour by performing a series of mixing, cooking, filtering and concentrating steps. The method comprises the steps of mixing rolled white oats with oat flour, bacterial or fungal enzymes, and water to form an oat/enzyme solution. The oat/enzyme solution is then mashed by cooking the solution to convert the starches present in the oats into sugars. The undissolved solids remaining from the rolled oats are separated from the oat mash by filtering the cooked oat mash using some of the undissolved solids as a filter bed. The filtering operation produces oat wort which is then concentrated to produce oat extract.

The Oat extract, with the CAS registry number 84012-26-0, is also known as Avena sativa extract. Its EINECS number is 281-672-4. Its classification code is Natural Product. can be used to soothe skin conditions, as in skin lotions. It is the principal ingredient for the Aveeno line of products. A standardised Oat extract may reduce cravings for smoking and offer would-be quitters an alternative to the patches and gums, suggests research from Japan.

The toxicity data is as follows: